Syria: Rebels kill 23 soldiers in Rastan
Twenty-three Syrian soldiers were killed in the town of Rastan today in heavy clashes with rebels who destroyed three armoured personnel carriers, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Earlier, opposition sources said nine people, including a local rebel commander, were killed in heavy army shelling of Rastan.
Meanwhile, Syrian troops backed by tanks shot dead seven civilians when they overran a rebellious Sunni Muslim village west of the city of Hama on Sunday, activists’ organisations said, in a crackdown on the rural epicentre of the 14-month anti-government revolt.